So #WestgateParkLake has been pink for two months ! A bit of a #touristattraction, sort of #disastertourism, cos it’s only pink because of low rainfall and algae in a #saltlake environment, though not really a disaster I guess since the lake is #manmade anyway. #WestgatePark was first established in 1985 on the #WestgateBridge works site … Continue reading Pink Lake Westgate Park →

These are the #oldlifts at the #HotelWindsor, prob from the 1920s but nobody seems to know. Im fascinated by the twisted, woven and curled #wroughtiron screen; theres only two others I know of in central Melbs (the #birdcagelift at 107 Flinders Lane, and at the Melb Club). This one has decorative solid panel interiors (ignore … Continue reading Another old lift, repurposed →

26 September 2015 Delightful! The Exhibition Boot Co in #BourkeStreet, near Russell, built 1904, designed by William Webb, with that fantastic sunburst motif - is it an early Australian #risingsun ? nothing to do with shoes anyway. Became Coons Shoes by the 20s, all painted white by 1937, then brownish (Graeme Butler, 1984), restored by … Continue reading Exhibition Boot Co →

Original post 23 March 2019 (changed since then !): A rather nice Edwardian warehouse on #LonsdaleStreet built in c1904 for Sniders & Abraham Tobacco to go with their warehouses in the lane behind. Just saw scaffolding, don’t know what for, no planning applications, fortunately it got #heritagelisted last year, so presumably nothing drastic. It’s called … Continue reading Snidest & Abraham, Edwardian Tobacco, facaded. →

29 March 2019 Caulfield Town Hall is an amalgam of an 1884 design by Sydney Smith, built but not rendered and without the tower, then a partial first floor was added in 1890. It was finally finished off in 1931 with more first floor, rendering, and the portico and the hall itself added, all in … Continue reading Caulfield Town Hall, started, stopped, finished off differently →

The randomly #supertall 90 storey #AuroraMelbourne by @elenberg_fraser has pretty much #toppedout - also almost looks like the rendering from the State Library forecourt if you fiddle with it a lot. And looming up from upper Swanston street too. Hadn’t realised #AuroraMelbourne is actually on the #SwanstonStreetAxis looking south; and it’s as tall as it’s … Continue reading Aurora Melbourne topped out at 90 floors…. →

Not a case of pointless #facadism as I first thought, the white part was built from recycled bricks as a non-literal memory of what was there before. This house featured on #GrandDesignsAustralia in 2013, but I only saw it a few months ago and then realised I was waking right past every other day ! … Continue reading Grand designs on a tight site →

23 March 2019 On CarlisleStreet Balaclava is one the best of those late 30s Commonwealth Banks, cos it’s on a corner, with a great circular corner tower element. It’s got one of those great wrought iron screens too, though mostly not visible, being a curved sliding gate thing by the looks. Hmmm the one in … Continue reading Art Deco Commonwealth Bank no 2 of maybe a dozen →

So, there was a plan to build a tower right here across the #railwaylines in #ChapelStreetWindsor - but #VCAT said no in Sept 2017, citing the 12m height limit on the north side of the railway and saying it clearly didn’t fit the low scale of the heritage-listed #shoppingstrip. (The other side of the railway … Continue reading Building over a railway line isn’t easy →